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Educational software company Instructure is offering a Canvas App Center as a place for students and institutions to distribute applications built on its cloud-based learning management system. "The apps are free to install, though some may require a subscription with the publisher or vendor, but Instructure won't be brokering that relationship in any way -- or taking a commission," Rip Empson writes.

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Education data company STI has acquired education application aggregator Chalkable for an estimated $10 million. Chalkable offers education-based Web tools in one location and launched with $1.3 million in startup cash. "The tools available through the Chalkable platform will increase the access our students have to highly relevant educational content and allow teachers to personalize instruction," STI CEO Derek Dunaway said. The acquisition allows STI to bring "their institutional customers to bring more modern, consumer-friendly and techy tools -- the kinds that students use every day outside the classroom -- into the learning process," Rip Empson writes.

The self-improvement tracking application Lift is extending its reach beyond the iOS platform with a browser-based version. The application takes user activity and makes it public, aggregating the data to render comparison charts, community feedback and encouragement from others. "The idea is to make it simple to record your progress for any and all of your regular habits or activities and get pushed along by the positive reinforcement of community applause," Rip Empson writes.

Tinder is bucking the trend of dating applications that faddishly come and go, Rip Empson writes. The app has an addictive hot-or-not formula and its engagement stats are as impressive as downloads, the company claims. Now rumored to be an acquisition target, Tinder's developers have added a Matchmaker feature, which allows users to be introduced for any reason via Facebook and chat together without exchanging personal data.

Intel is starting an innovation lab with Chinese search engine giant Baidu in an effort to stimulate applications development for the mobile Internet market. Also, Intel's XDK initiative is a rebranded version of AppMobi's HTML5-based software development kit, which Intel purchased earlier this year, Stephen Shankland writes. "Historically, Intel developer tools have been lower-level offerings designed for programming software that runs natively on chips, but the cross-platform XDK employs the abstraction of the Web" for running on any type of chip, Shankland writes.